Determining district goals — and how to reach them — was once again a main focus of the Benjamin Logan (BL) Local School District’s board of education meeting on Monday, Sept. 15.
In response to discussions in August, the three principals along with the athletic director and the buildings and grounds department supervisor came prepared to share where they’re looking to improve across the district.
Holly Barr, elementary principal, was the first to speak. Their goals include improving data usage, seeing 85 percent of their students complete and have a passing score in at least two reading and two math lessons, and incorporating events that lead to well-rounded students.
Then Deepika Scheiderer, assistant principal, spoke on behalf of the middle school, listing a focus on intervention, professional growth and the use of the Collins Writing program. They want to do a better job at communicating with parents as well.
Scheiderer concluded by saying, “We’re starting Raider of the Month and Staff Member of the Month programs so we can continue to grow and achieve.”
In her report, Annette Ramga-Alatorre, BL high school principal, said they’re emphasizing learning standard capabilities, professional growth, teaching real-life skills, and improving communication goals, specifically keeping parents aware of when a student has a failing grade.
“I did that for seniors last year and we had a 100 percent graduation rate,” Alatorre noted, “so we’ll continue that this year.”
Mark Himmeger, board president, then asked Alatorre how the cell phone policy is going. She replied they’d had issues with seven phones and two other devices, with only one repeat offender.
But, she added, “I’ve had zero pushback so far.”
Next, the board heard from Beau Harmon, athletic director.
“We’re off to the races on all fall sports,” Harmon began. “And we have more kids involved than ever.”
That includes three levels of soccer teams and, for the first time, a girls soccer team. He said they’re reaching out to the community for sponsors, which led most recently to signing with Huey Magoo’s.
Referring to the recent suspension of an Urbana-Graham game due to potential threats at Graham High School on Friday, Sept. 13, Himmeger asked Harmon if they have a plan in place in case of a similar situation.
“I have experience with that,” Harmon said, explaining a previous school he worked at had an active shooter incident. “We have a plan in place.”
The last presentation came from Tim Scheiderer, buildings and grounds supervisor. He filled the board in on all the projects they had completed over the summer and gave a rundown of what’s ahead. One highlight was the process of making sure all smoke and CO2 devices are up to date.
“We should be looking at many years of a good system,” Scheiderer said.He finished by telling the board the wastewater and sewer rehabilitation project continues to move forward with construction planned for March to August 2026.
During the audience participation time, Colleen Miller, a high school math teacher, expressed concern about a contract discrepancy.
“I applied for a continuing contract and was told I don’t meet the requirements,” Miller explained. “But that’s not what my contract says. So I’m standing before the board and the principal to apply for that continuing contract.”
The main issue seems to be that one document says only three years with the district are needed while the other states a teacher has to be there at least seven years. John Scheu, school superintendent, assured Miller they would look into the matter.
Treasurer Report
During the financial report, Leah Baker, treasurer, gave the board a rundown of where they were with the next five-year forecast. She shared a slide show about the district’s finances, expressing concern over tax cuts and reductions in state funding and how those might affect them, especially as “costs continue to rise with inflation.”
After accepting the August 2025 financial report, bank reconciliation and financial statements, and all August 2025 bills, the board also approved:
• Credit card compliance review in accordance with House Bill 312.
• Activity budgets for the 2025-2026 school year.
• A resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission.
• Final FY 2025 permanent appropriations.
• Five-year forecast as presented.
In other action, the board approved or accepted:
• resignations of Holly Bair and Brandy Varian, educational assistants, for further employment;
• new certified hire Stacy Hamlin, as a middle school teacher and to help with detention, Saturday school and study tables;
• new classified hires Chelsea Furer, custodian; Teaira Judd, educational assistant; Kurt Guenther, bus driver;
• additional employment for Kira Perez, secretary to EMIS/food service director; Deb Wagler and Brooke Smith, Raider Care ($20/hour); Reese Murphy, Raider Care aide ($15/hour);
• salary schedule advancements for the following teachers for additional hours earned: masters’s —Alix Brown; master’s plus 15 — Morgan Dixon, Ryan Kerns, Colleen Miller, Laura Mobley;
• nonathletic supplemental contract to Sage Rausch as high school student council adviser;
• Bre Allen and Carter Daniels were named September’s Seniors of the Month;
• a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the school district and the BL Education Association to address the high school student council adviser position;
• a resignation agreement with Diana Chamberlain, custodian;
• due to a car accident, Carie McCullough requested a leave of absence effective Sept. 8 through Nov. 13, 2025, which the board agreed to; and
• donations of 1,000 plastic buckets from Scott’s Miracle-Gro for agricultural education, valued at $1,000; a BreakAway logo banner from signs.com, donated by Hi-Point Car Wash, valued at $293.70, for the athletic/activities departments; and $658 from the Benjamin Logan Athletic Boosters for the purchase of iPads for the football program.
The next board of education meeting is 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20.
